Guard-rail



(No Model.)

G. B. AMES. GUARD RAIL.

Patented June 26, 1894.

TI W Tl TIT] TlljlUU Z FTI ETU IT TIT! 1 Jf- 74 W NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GORHAM B. AMES, OF LAGONIA, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

GUARD-RAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 0. 522,038, dated June 26, 1894. Application filed August 5,1893. Serial No. 482,451. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GORHAM B. AMES, of Laconia, in the county of Belknap and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Guard-Rails, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to means employed in the construction of railways, particularly in connection with frogs, for the purpose of preventing the wheels of cars from leaving the track, which means are commonly termed guard-rails.

It is the purpose of the invention to provide such improvements in contrivances of the kind mentioned as will insure their retention in place with respect to the main rail, or rail in service.

It is also the object of theinvention to provide such improvements in guard-rails as will obviate the liability of employs and other persons from accidentally getting a foot caught between the guard-rail and raii in service, and

so avoiding accidents which have'heretofore so frequently resulted from this cause.

To these ends the invention consists of a guard-rail having an arm extending from the tread or top at the end of the rail inward, downward, and under and embracing the base of the rail in service, so that lateral strain on the guard-rail in a direction away from the rail in service will be taken up by the latter the draft upon the guard-rail being from the .top, all as I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Reference is to be had to the annexed drawings and to the letters marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same parts or features as the case may be, Wherever they occur.

Of the drawings-Figure 1 is a plan view of so much of a railway track at a frog point as is necessary to show in order to explain the invention. Fig. 2 is a plan 5' Fig. 3 a perspective; and Fig. 4 an end view of theend portion of my improved guard-rail and the rail in service, showing the construction of the former and its relationship to the latter. Fig. 5 is an end view showing a slightly modified form of the device.

In carrying out my invention I provide a guard-rail a which intermediate of its end portions may be of the same form as the rail 12 in service, or of any other suitable or convenient form.

The end portions of the guard-rail are curved outwardly, as at c, as is usual, and from the top or tread, and preferably forming an integral part thereof. At the ends there extends inwardly and downwardly an arm d, which arm also reaches beneath the base of the rail b and is at its end turned up so as to engage the outer edge of the rail 1), as shown at e. The arm at may be formed by cutting away the web and base of the end parts of the rail for a sufficient distance and employing the tread portion of the rail, or by making it in any other desired way. With this construction the guard-rail will be held in place with respect to the rail in'service by simple spikes f, doing away with the expensive and uncertainchock-pieces heretofore employed, inasmuch as lateral strain exerted on the guard-rail in the direction away from the rail in service will be taken up'by the latter, which drawing from the top of the guard-rail'obviates liability of the latter tipping over or upsetting.

The inward-and downward extending portion of the arm from the top of the guardrail to the base of the rail in service, in addition to its other functions, forms an effectual foot-guard so as to prevent the foot of a person from being caught between the end of the guard-rail and the rail in service, which is an important feature of the invention.

To the end of more thoroughly closing the space between the end of the guard-rail and the rail b, the arm 61 may project inwardly from the top of the guard-rail toward the web of the rail 22 and then directly downward, as shown in Fig. 5.

My invention has been found in practice to maintain the guard-rail in place with abv solute certainty, and to obviate the necessity of special foot-guards.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the. forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, it is declared that what is claimed is- A guard-rail comprising in its construction an arm extending from its tread or top inward and downward, reaching under the base of the rail in service and provided at its end with an upturned part; adapted to engage the outer edge of the base of said rail in service, as set forth.- 1

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 20th day of July, A. D. 1893.

GORHAM B. AMES. Witnesses:

S. S. JEWETT, NV. A. PLUMMER. 

